JonyyB

How badly are fuel prices impacting car sales? So badly Chevy has gone under the hood of the Cobalt economy car and magically found 3 more mpg on the highway. Dubbed the XFE — Xtra Fuel Economy — the revised Cobalt is on sale now and delivers 25/36 mpg equipped with a manual transmission. The XFE replaces the base offering in both coupe and sedan versions of the LS and LT1 trim packages. Prices still start at $14,885.

Hitting the magical 36 mpg number propels the Cobalt XFE past the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus in terms of mileage for their manual transmission and represents a 9% gain in highway fuel efficiency. The Honda Civic with an automatic also gets 36 mpg.

How was the magic done? According to Chevy, “it uses revised engine calibration, low-rolling-resistance tires, a new, 3.74:1 final drive ratio and other technologies.” Meaning, they didn't have to do too much.

We’re glad automakers are adding more efficiency, but we’re not sure how we feel about slapping a special badge on what isn't a dramatically different vehicle. It will save confusion on the lot, though, where older 2008s that didn't receive the tweaks will look identical to the XFEs.
Source:
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2...obalt-xfe.html

XM15

Hmm, I wonder what it would get with an intake and exhaust. I get numbers at or above that right now.

dman090

i thought this was just an update on the computers of our vehicles?? my friend said he went to the local dealer and they reflashed his computer with XFE

DeftonesFan867

XFE isn't a computer reflash. XFE is manual only and lower resistance tires.

LScoupeTUNER

this whole thing just seems like a plot or something. haha. o well.

chevyLSchik

hey i get 36mpg...im an 05, automatic and i have crappy tires....sales pitch all the way on this one!

D4u2s0t

that's what i get now. sometimes even higher but it's not a bad marketing ploy for people that don't know better, and majority of people complain about the gas prices. so they hear "better gas mileage" and they're all over it.

dman090

right now i am getting 23.7 mpg...but i only drive about 5 miles a day so i stop and go at alot of redlights

chevyLSchik

i get around 28 in the city...more if im nice to my car i range between 33-38mpg on the hwy.

LScoupeTUNER

in my old cobalt, i was getting about 22.4, but i was basically WOT all the time.

thefictionwelive

I was able to get combined 30-33 mpg on the SS/SC before stage 2. Takes a bit more babying but I can still do 30mpg and maybe a bit above(if I could set the cruise at 60mph on the way to work lol). Even when I'm being peppy though I get 26-27 combined. They should just take the supercharger off the LSJ for an economic car, cause if you stay out of boost it does pretty good.

bigrroberto

i get 38-40 right now on the hwy with my ss/sc (I can take pics and prove it)

keep your foot out of it!

Blue_Balt

iTrader: (1)

Meh I know.

I have an 08 ls 5-spd and I can get that easily if I'm really light on the throttle.

Why didn't you just buy a 2.2 instead? Wouldn't taking the blower off the SS/SC defeat the purpose?

thefictionwelive

what do you set the cruise at, I'm kinda doing an experiment right now to see how much I can get it up to. For the past 2 days I'm averaging 32.5 mpg so far. I've been trying to keep it 60-65. Cause when you look at it like this:

6mpgX12gallons on fill up = 72 additional miles out of the tank which would come out to a bit more than 2 gallons, rounded up to $4 a gallon where it is headed, filling up at least 6 times a month saves at least $56 bucks o,O.

I wasn't saying I would, I mean if I can get 32-33 mpg on a car with a blower....if it didn't have a blower it would make a great engine for an economy car.

firemanfrank

I used to get about 8mpg with a '69 Mach 1 that I had owned long ago (390).

Now, my Stage 2 SC gets almost 3 times that ... and it's faster.

That's good enough for me!

GTO 1

My Grand-Dad always said...... "People love to be fooled."

GTO 1

umrdyldo

iTrader: (1)

Maybe they are trying to sell more manual cars.

Wild Balt

To sell more manual cars, you'll need more people learning to drive stick or willing to use it in traffic. They aren't very well favored in cities, I know.

And if they were wanting to increase the economy of the cobalt since its an economy car, what about having an Aveo XFE since its cheaper than the Cobalt?

alleycat58

LOL @ marketing ploy. 36mpg is me driving on the highway at 70 in my SS/SC.

Wild Balt

And what are low roll resistance tires? Isn't that what all tires do? Roll? Unless they're flat...

umrdyldo

iTrader: (1)

Well technically they could have less resistance, but that would probably mean less traction and stopping power

chris06ss

i get 30 on the highway all the time and i drive 3 hours to new hampshire and it is only a 1/4 tank of gas

joeworkstoohard

it's all about the RATING, not what the car actually gets.

SpdDemon69

well in a few years....car makes must average at least 35 mpg i think it was....meaning all the cars of a make combined have to average a EPA MPG of 35 mpg.....so i guess chevy is starting early.

plus 4 dollars a gallon is bull****

Helltime

If chevy was smart and wanted to up thier average mpg as a car maker they would just bring back the metro. My dad bought one new back in 2000 when he had to start commuting (vs his truck, it was actually cheap to buy the metro then put gas in the truck....and thats when it was only $1.50-1.70 a gallon lol) and he got best of 48 mpg a couple times and averaged 46-47 on the highway all the time and 43 in town. Answer me why when the metro could to that back then, everyone is praising hybrid technology now when it doesn't do much better? I would rather drive a metro then a ******* prius any day.